Arnold Schwarzenegger laughs at danger in first trailer for comedy 'Killing Gunther'

Arnold Schwarzenegger has spent decades dispatching bad guys on the big screen. Now, a group of trained killers will try to turn the tables on the iconic star, as a legendary assassin targeted by his professional rivals in the upcoming Killing Gunther — which plays the scenario not for thrills but for laughs, as you’ll see in the comedy’s initial trailer (watch it above).

In the clip, Schwarzenegger sports a goofy haircut and some scruffy facial hair as Gunther, a world-class executioner whose proficiency with a rifle (and rocket launcher) is second to none. Almost as considerable as his murderous skills is his ego, which is only bolstered by his showdowns with the hitman out to do him in, played by former Saturday Night Live star Taran Killam, who wrote and directed Gunther. Assembling a team of homicidal experts to help him pull off this difficult job, Killam’s character quickly finds offing his target is easier said than done. In fact, he winds up taking quite a few blows to the face, frequently from Schwarzenegger’s fists, and even from the refrigerator door Schwarzenegger employs during one kitchen-set skirmish.

“I am singing in it, but I made it clear to the director that I will only do that if he keeps it for the end. I normally always sing at a party at my house when I want people to leave, because I’m a horrible singer. I don’t have a lot of voice fluctuation from high to low and all that stuff; I’m kind of like an Isaac Hayes, with the same tone. [laughs] But what happens is — I don’t know if you’ve seen Twins…

“You know the part where I sing, “Take out the papers and the trash,” and I play it like I’m definitely great? That’s how I also play it in this film — that I’m the best singer, and totally causing great competition and worry amongst the best country-western singers. And the fact of the matter is that it sounds totally s—ty [laughs]. That’s what makes it funny, and that’s why when Taran asked me to do it, I said, well, it’s a comedy, people are supposed to laugh, and I know that in real life when I sing, people immediately laugh, because it sounds stupid and hideous. So that’s why it works.”